The Musical Styles of Blue Note
}} : When Blue Note was founded, its primary focus was hot jazz and swingtet, the movement moving away from the big band sound and moving back towards smaller combos with more emphasis on solos and new jazz styles. More importantly, though, Lion and Wolff were after what was being called "the black sound," African-American musicians who played in all-black bands that were breaking ranks from the fusion of concert band and jazz that was Big Band. : That focus would change over the decades to several other sub-genres including BeBop and Hard Bop. : Towards the end of the World War II, saxophonist Ike Quebec was among those who recorded for the label and also their A&R ("Artist and Repertoire") man. Quebec would act as a talent scout for Blue Note until his death in 1963. : Quebec was stylistically a member of the previous jazz generation, but he appreciated the new BeBop style of jazz, created by artists breaking out of the traditional jazz world like vocalist Billy Eckstine, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and saxophonist Charlie Parker. : Quebec was able to help Lion and Wolff land Billy Eckstine's band. Eckstine, a vocalist, bandleader and periodic trumpeter was one of the pioneers of the BeBop sound. His band included future jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Gene Ammons, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Sonny Stitt, and Art Blakey. Eckstine's band would open the door for Blue Note to the development of new sub-genres and modern jazz featuring some of the top performers of the music in the world. Many of these artists recorded for multiple labels back in those days, but the synergy of the Lion's open door, and creatively nuturing environment gave Blue Note some of these artists' best work. Hot Jazz and Swingtet thumb|300px|leftThe first recordings of Blue Note were hot jazz and swingtet recordings, usually of established hot jazz artists like Bechet, pianist Art Hodes,trumpeter Wild Bill Davison, bassist Pops Foster and Fred Moore. Lion was dedicated to promoting the music that he fell in love with, but quickly saw that there were groups evolving out of hot jazz into new, as-yet untapped forms of jazz music. While having venerable jazz legends in the Blue Note ensemble of players was prestigious, finding the new frontiers of jazz held more appeal to Blue Note's founders. BeBop : BeBop was born of a creative energy in Harlem in the post-war 1940s. Jazz gigs downtown were with the big bands and the club and bar combos of Manhattan establishment. Creativity happened after hours at the Uptown bars and clubs like Minton's Playhouse. Then, for those artists done in the wee hours of the morning, it might be that they headed to the studios of Blue Note to record much of what was invented at places like Minton's. : : thumb|300px|leftIn 1947, pianist Thelonious Monk recorded his first sessions as a leader for the label. Monk's recordings for Blue Note between 1947 and 1952 did not sell well, but have since come to be regarded as amongst the most important of the BeBop era. Other bebop or modernist musicians who recorded for Blue Note during the late forties and early fifties were drummer Art Blakey, pianist Tadd Dameron, trumpeters Fats Navarro and Howard McGhee, trombonist J. J. Johnson), saxophonist James Moody and pianst Bud Powell. : The sessions by Powell, like those his close friend Monk recorded for the label, are commonly ranked among his best. Johnson and trumpeter Miles Davis both recorded several sessions for Blue Note between 1952 and 1954, but by then the musicians who had created BeBop were starting to explore other styles. Hard Bop : thumb|300px|leftIn 1951 Blue Note issued their first vinyl 10" releases, and the label was soon recording new talent such as Horace Silver (who would stay with Blue Note for a quarter of a century), the Jazz Messengers (originally a collaborative group, but soon to become Art Blakey's group), Milt Jackson (as the leader of what became the Modern Jazz Quartet) and Clifford Brown. }}